Oracle 11g available for download!

Good news! Oracle 11g is finally available for download! Ok, until now it's just available for Linux, but I'm sure other platforms will follow soon.

For those who can't install it yet, at least you can have a look at the Oracle 11g documentation and the New features section in the documentation.

Have fun!

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Oracle 11g: Native Web Services

Just stumbled across an interesting paragraph in the New Features in Oracle XML DB for Oracle Database 11g Release 1 about Database Native Web Services.

The feature didn't get that much attention yet on the Oracle 11g related blog postings, but according to the description it's a real nice improvement compared to the 10g solution.

So what is it all about?

It allows you to publish your PL/SQL packages/procedures/functions as a web service with zero coding and zero deployment effort!

Maybe you have already heard of the SOA (service-orientated architecture) hype and probably your manager or the Java guys have already asked you how you want to participate with your old legacy PLSQL/Oracle APEX code in the "new and everything is now better" world of SOA and BPEL. This native integration of web services into the database is the answer. Probably you even have to do less work then the Java guys to expose your business service... ;-)

Another goody is that you don't need the additional application server infrastructure anymore as you had to have it with the existing JDeveloper solution which generated a Java wrapper for your PL/SQL package. That's especially useful in an Oracle APEX environment where you don't need an application server anymore. Another moving piece is gone...

Really looking forward to try out Oracle 11g myself.

See also my related posting Oracle 11g more infos.

Update: Check out Paul Gallagher's blog posting First Tests of 11g Native Web Services for more information about this feature.

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Oracle 11g some more infos

Just noticed that Oracle has put some more information about Oracle 11g onto OTN.

There are a lot of whitepapers available on OTN. For example the Oracle Database 11g New Features Overview which even mentions Oracle APEX! Ok, they mention it on the last page, but at least! :-)

Another interesting read is Oracle Database 11g Application Development which gives an interesting overview of the new PL/SQL enhancements in Oracle 11g like

• PL/SQL native compilation: it's now much easier, no extra C compiler and no linking, ...
• SQL Query Result Cache: sounds very promising to speed up some lookup SQL statements for configuration data
• PL/SQL Function Result Cache: like SQL Query Result Cache, I think sometimes really useful if you have functions which are based on tables which do not change very often
• Fine Grained Dependency Tracking: that's also a nice one. It helps to speed up your application deployment, because it keeps better track of the dependencies between database objects and PL/SQL packages to avoids unnecessary invalidation of packages
• PL/SQL Scope: read that for the first time, but that could be interesting to build some nice QA reports of your PL/SQL code. Hope to get more information about that soon.
• PL/SQL Profiler enhancements: to get even more statistics about your executed PL/SQL code.

Can't wait to get a grab on some more detail documentation about this features and the new built-in packages in Oracle 11g. BTW, this document gives again a quick introduction into Oracle APEX. This time on page 6 :-)

Arup Nanda does a series about "Oracle Database 11g: Top New Features for DBAs and Developers" which you should also check out.

Update:

Watch the Oracle launch video.

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Oracle Database 11g will be launched on July 11

Just read on Edie Awad's blog, that the Oracle Database 11g is going to be launched on July 11 with an event in New York City.

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